Adventures in Vegas

We had quite a morning today. Actually, it started late last night. President Obama was in town. My friend Carrie mentioned that she took her boys out in their pjs last night to see Air Force One which was parked on base. I debated whether or not to go since both of the kids were already in bed. Deciding that this could possibly be my one and only chance to ever see AF1 in person, I drug the kids to the other side to see the plane. It was after dark but the plane was lit up well. I was too chicken to get out to take a picture since it was dark and I was afraid Secret Service agents might come after me! I did have a security forces(AF police)car follow me after that! Maybe it was just coincidence... Carson cried the whole 5 minutes home because we did not get to ride HIS blue airplane!!

Then this morning I find out through tv and Facebook, that the President is scheduled to tour the solar farm down the road and conduct a 'town hall' meeting on the other side of base. So Carrie, her boys, the kids, and I trek to the general area where he will be touring the solar farm only to be told that no cars OR pedestrians would be allowed. What??? All we wanted to do was take a picture of the motorcade! We were not just random people off the street. We were on base, after all.

So, we were told that IF there was room at the meeting, we MIGHT be allowed in. And what do we do? We head to it, of course! All they can say is no. And they did. No kids allowed. *sigh* We then walked over to see AF1 and get pictures. Carrie talked to every SF person just to see if they would give us ANY indication of where we might be able to see the motorcade and get a picture. They did not. And would you believe that the motorcade drove down the flightline? It did not come anywhere near us! All I wanted was a picture...I think we would have had a better chance if we had stood on the side of the street off base! Go figure.

My walking, teething monkey.

Madison took her first real steps on Tuesday!!! We were in the kitchen and she took 4 steps from the oven to me. I yelled for John to come in there and then she took 4 steps from me to Daddy! She is still uncertain about it all but I see her trying out her new skill at least a few times a day.

She is also teething like a maniac! For the longest time she only had the one tooth. Now she has 6 and I think I saw another this morning! If there really is another one there, that will mean that she has cut 6 teeth in one month. Oh my!

I think she is going to be an early talker. That or I am just forgetting how early Carson started talking. She has about 5 words now besides mama (which she hardly uses) and dada. They are dog, duck, book, juice, and Alex. I know she must have a word for Carson and I am just not picking up on it.

Ok, here's the stories behind the pictures.
Picture #1- I was working on dishes one morning and was called out of the kitchen by Carson. This is how I found Madison when I returned. Later in the day I was sitting on the couch and saw her little head bob up higher than the arm of the loveseat. She had climbed up ON TOP of the old tv that was sitting in the floor!!!! With the way she was bouncing on it, I was too nervous to leave her there to grab the camera.

Picture #2-Mad because she can't get her cup out.
Picture #3- Eating the bath bubbles. We will have to nix the bubble baths for now!
Picture #4- Diving in to the ice cream cone. She already thinks she has to have EVERYTHING that her brother has! Look at that bedhead!
Picture #5- Want some? I'll share!!

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon was our third day of hiking and quite possibly the most strenuous. The hike down into the Canyon was fine. It was the hike up and out that kicked our derriere's. If you used a little imagination, you could make the hoodoos (the rock formations) look like all kinds of things! After we finished that hike, neither John nor I had any desire to do anymore hiking that day so we decided to drive to all of the lookouts in the park. It's hard to believe that half of the park is a pine forest! We were a little outnumbered at the lookouts. It seemed like most of the people spoke French or another foreign language.

After several hours of driving to the vistas (and some ice cream!) we mustered the energy for one last (short) hike to the waterfall. We are so glad we did it. It was only 1 mile round trip with no big up and down portions. This was the perfect time to view waterfalls in the are due to the snow meltoff. I must note that Carson was fast asleep during the last part of the drive but wouldn't you know he woke up the minute we pulled into the parking lot to get ice cream! The boy LOVES ice cream!

We had such a great trip. John and I were so excited when we arrived in the parks. We were like kids in a candy store! We had watched so many specials about the national parks on the Travel Channel in Arkansas. We would always talk about going 'someday' but it always felt like that someday would either be way off in the future or would not really come. We feel soooo blessed to have the opportunity to explore God's creation out here!!

One more thing. The temperature was wonderful on the trip. Usually 70s with the lows dipping in the 30s. Thank goodness the camper has a good heater! Then we came home to highs over 100 here in the valley! Yuck!

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Day 2 of our trip. Words cannot adequately describe Zion National Park. It is so beautiful. The park has a shuttle system to control traffic so Carson had his first ever bus ride. He LOVED it. At the beginning, he jumped up and down and yelled when he saw the bus coming for us!! It was too funny. The shuttle was a double bus set up that had different animals painted on the side. We had to get in the bus that he insisted. For instance, we had to ride the 'lizard bus' and the 'turtle bus' rather than the chipmunk bus.

We spotted several squirrels on the hikes. Carson's version: werwerl. Madison's version: curl,curl,curl. They were very tame, even begging people for food.

There were two hikes that we did not get to do that are on our MUST DO list: Angel's Landing and The Narrows. Both of which we are not willing to take the kids on. Angel's Landing takes you to one of the highest points in the park and at one point the trail is only 3 feet wide with a 800ft drop off on one side and a 1200 drop off of the other. There are chains to hold on to to get across that point. Is that supposed to make me feel better? The Narrows is arguable the most famous trail in the park. It goes through a slot canyon. It was closed due to the snow melt and subsequent water flow. The river you see in the pictures is the same one that flows through the trail.

We were sooo tired at the end of this day. We certainly made the most of our time there by hiking as many trails as we could.

Kodachrome State Park

Kodachrome State Park

On the first day of our trip we ventured to Kodachrome State Park. It was named so because it is picturesque. Koda- Kodak. We made one hike to the highest point in the park and met an older couple from Pittsburg who were out here on vacation.

This park is within Grand Staircase-Escalante. Outside of the park, we headed to Grosvenor Arch and then to the slot canyon. Carson was so excited to get to hike all by himself in the canyon. He insisted that his tractor and trailor go for a hike too. Guess who carried them most of the way! He started looking for 'special rocks' to bring home with him. I think we've started a rock collection now!

We were not planning on a long hike so John carried Madison. He put his Buff on her because it is made of UV protection material. A Buff is a circular piece of material that you can wear on your neck, head wherever. Madison will actually leave it on her head so we will be buying one for her since she refuses to wear her sun hat.

Overall, Kodachrome was a neat little place but it did not come close to comparing to Zion NP or Bryce Canyon. I'll have those pics up in the next day or two. I have sooo many to upload!!

Hike and new friends

Red Rock

We've had another great week here in Vegas. Due to John's schedulers, he had an entire week off! He had his normal days off then was put on recall for the one day that he was on the schedule.

We went hiking on Tuesday in Red Rock Canyon on the west side of town. Madison has graduated to a backpack now and Carson got to ride in his new backpack. Carson loves his new backpack because he can get into it himself now. Madison slept for about half of the hike which is normal. I could not wear my hat however because she kept pulling it off of my head then she would play with my hair.

The hike was beautiful! The wildflowers were in bloom. I have never seen such a variety of flowers in one place. The picture we took simply do not do it justice. We saw a variety of colors including orange, yellow, white, red, fuschia, purple, and blue. We even saw a few flowering trees.

Yesterday we were invited to Carson's new friend's birthday party. Travis had a cool birthday party with a jumpy castle, a pool, and Carson and Madison's favorite: a water table with boats and bridges! We did not get to stay long since John had to go to work but it was fun to meet some new friends!

Race for the Cure

Race for the Cure

We ran the Race for the Cure 5k this morning. It was a beautiful morning. I don't think we have ever seen the valley so clear. There were soooo many people there. John was awesome! He ran with me and pushed both kids in the stroller!! We finished the race in 33 minutes which was our goal. Not fast but for my first race, I was pleased. Carson munched on his breakfast during the beginning and Madison slept through half of it! Two ladies with a mic and video camera picked John out of the crowd and interviewed him! We should have asked them what it was for. I did not see a news channel logo on anything. I did notice that they both had on Quilted Northern Ultra shirts on.

We wanted to run the race to get into a race groove but more importantly, we ran it for Mom (the kids rode in the stroller for Memaw!)WE LOVE YOU!!!

Playtime

playtime

The kids have spent a lot of time outdoors lately. We've been trying to enjoy the temperate weather before it gets ridiculously hot here! Both kids love being outside. Madison makes a beeline for the door even if it is just cracked. It's probably a good thing we do not have a doggie door anymore!

Carson's little vocabulary has exploded again. His sentences are much more intelligible. He is really focused on the plural forms of words right now. He realizes that there should be an 's' at the end of the word but it usually comes out as 'carses' instead of cars. He is also such an observer. We always have fighters flying around and he can always identify the Thunderbirds vs regular fighters. Case in point: We were out for a walk one day and he spotted a plane flying and exclaimed, "Oh, I see a Thunderbird!" then he retracted his statement and said, "oh, its just an airplane."

Madison continues to change on a daily basis. She is so active! We found another tooth yesterday so we are at a total of 4. 2 on top, 2 on bottom. That makes 3 in two weeks!! She is so close to walking. She be in the middle of the room and stand up on her own unassisted and stand there for a little while before she realizes that she is not holding on to anything. She went to the doctor this past week and weighs 17lb 3oz. She did NOT have fun at this appointment. In fact, she screamed throughout the entire thing!! She thinks she is every bit as big as her brother and tries to do everything he does now. I know it is just beginning!!!